The Wonkhe Show

This week on the podcast duty of care has been discussed in Parliament - and we examine the implications. Plus there’s media interest in UK from across the pond, we’ve been getting all interdisciplinary and there’s revised guidance out on students as consumers. With Jonathan Grant, Director at Different Angles, India Ellis, President at Lancaster University Students’ Union, David Kernohan, Deputy...

In this special half term episode of the show, Wonkhe's Editor in Chief Mark Leach chats to Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles.  In a wide ranging discussion the pair talk Wales’ new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, fees funding and finance, the character of regulation and governance in Wales, Miles’ vision for students as citizens and how the new commissio...

This week on the podcast net immigration stats are out - will stopping the dependants of PGT students from getting visas be the end of restrictions? Plus reform for renters in England is causing a headache in the student housing market, and OfS is upping its fees by 20 per cent - whatever happened to value for money? With Chris Skidmore, Net Zero Review Chair and MP for Kingswood, Andy Westwood, P...

This week on the podcast student suicides and a duty of care have been discussed in Parliament - but would such a duty help or hinder in efforts to support students? Plus Cabinet wranglings over immigration policy and international students continue, and we discuss whether the sector should wade in or deftly avoid controversies over issues like student drug use. With Sue Rigby, Vice Chancellor at...

This week on the podcast to mark Eurovision week we have a special episode featuring Bram Van Uden, who’s President of the SU at Twente University in the Netherlands. We chat project-based learning, building belonging and community and what the world’s biggest student case competition on campus says about this fascinating institution. Presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe. Hosted...

This week on the podcast Keir Starmer has U-turned over student fees and finance - but what should Labour’s policy be if not free education? Plus support for PGRs is in the news, universities are frantically fundraising in a period of fiscal constraint, and disadvantaged students go on to be lower earning graduates - why?   With Selena Bolingbroke, Director at Sighthound Consultancy, Ben Ward...

This week on the podcast there’s new data on the financial health of universities - we discuss how higher education is coping with inflation and frozen fees. Plus we discover how much students are getting from universities in financial help, universities are leaving the CBI just as soon as people realised they were members, and there’s a new commitment out on improving accessibility for disabled s...

This week on the podcast the Office of the Independent Adjudicator has published its annual report. Should we worry that it’s handled a record number of complaints? Plus the Lords have beeling listening in on an apparent absence of student voice in the Office for Students, and the question of whether quality-related (QR) funding needs a root-and-branch review is in the air. With Anthony Finkelstei...

In our final show before the Easter break, OfS has published the first Equality of Opportunity Risk Register for English HE. But are there some big risks missing? Plus UCAS says we’ll soon have a million applicants, Wales is working towards better mental health and in response to news from Turnitin, plenty of people seem to want to turn it off. With James Purnell, Vice Chancellor at University of...

This week on the podcast there are new numbers out on the size and shape of higher education providers - is the sector growing international PGT too quickly? Plus the robots are coming for our jobs and souls, and we mark neurodiversity celebration week. With Nicola Dandridge, Professor of Practice in Higher Education Policy at University of Bristol, Joseph Cooper, Director of People and Culture at...

This week on the podcast we’re live at our Secret Life of Students event in London where we hear from the Office for Students' Director for Fair Access and Participation John Blake, discuss belonging and community and its relationship to the rest of the student experience, and consider the impact of the cost of living crisis on different groups of students. With Sally Burtonshaw, Associate Directo...

This week on the podcast we’re getting a complete overhaul of student finance in England - but is there enough demand for modules of debt? Plus the government has published its independent review of the research, development and innovation organisational landscape, there’s new polling on the public’s attitude to international students, and we’ve been working out where they’re living. With Marian H...

This week on the podcast 46 per cent of people would only choose to invest more in R&D when the UK economy is in better shape – does the fragility of public support matter? Plus international student visas are up again, and so are dependants, and the Lords have been interrogating universities’ engagement with autocracies. With Martin Jones, Vice Chancellor at Staffordshire University, Jess Lister,...

This week on the podcast the Office for Students has new proposals out on harassment and sexual misconduct – but will they work in the way intended? Plus Tony Blair and William Hague have ideas out on science and technology, there’s a new student living strategy in Nottingham and we explain the reclassification of FE colleges into the public sector. With Paul Greatrix, Registrar at the University...

This week on the podcast Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as leader of the SNP and Scotland’s First Minister - what kind of higher education legacy does she leave? Plus student engagement with their studies may or may not have bounced back, and there’s a call to extend rather than cut the post-study work visa for international students. With Mary Curnock Cook, Chair of the UPP Foundation’s Student Fut...

This week on the podcast the government has published its review of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy. Are campuses really a breeding ground for extremism? We also discuss this week’s reshuffle and its implications for HE, a new report on graduate outcomes and earnings, and try to understand what’s going on with the government’s short courses trial. With Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive at Uni...

This week on the podcast there's new polling out on the public perception of universities. Does it explain funding woes and what can be done to turn around voters’ views?  Plus new HESA data shows a dramatic rise in international students, there’s a new survey out on students and sex, and David Kernohan reads the Lifelong Learning Higher Education Fee Limits bill so you don’t have to. With He...

This week on the podcast we interrogate UCAS end of cycle data - what is going on with demand for higher education? Plus the Sutton Trust has new research out on the impacts of the cost of living crisis on students, and the Lords are leaping over student loan reform. With Clare Marchant, Chief Executive at UCAS, Amatey Doku, Consultant at Moorhouse Consulting, Sunday Blake, Associate Editor at Won...

This week on the podcast new universities minister Robert Halfon has written to vice chancellors with new priorities, and our guests analyse the content. Plus UCU have announced 18 days of strike action, and sector mission groups are calling for a review of the Office for Students.  With Mary Stuart, Director of Leadership Development at Minerva, Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practic...

This week on the podcast we’re in Münster, Germany for the Wonkhe SUs study tour. Jim and guests from the bus trip discuss the HE policy year ahead, drugs on campus, and what we might learn from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Plus DK dives into the UCAS end of cycle data. With India Ellis, President at Lancaster SU, Alexander Robinson, President at the SU Bath University, Gary Hughes, CEO a...

This week in a special seasonal episode of the show we travel to Toronto, Canada to meet with sector experts Higher Education Strategy Associates. Alex Usher and his team chat international students, student mental health, predictions for 2023 and the collapse of a university - and how to avoid it happening again both in Canada and in the UK. With Alex Usher, President at Higher Education Strategy...

This week on the podcast student finance is back up for debate and there’s new guidance out on student suicide. Plus we talk research assessment, PGR supervision, and Disabled students - and there’s a bonus Wonkhe Christmas song at the end too. With Pete Quinn, inclusion consultant, Michelle Morgan, Dean of Students at the University of East London, David Kernohan, Acting Editor at Wonkhe and pres...

This week on the podcast the Free Speech Bill has cleared report stage in the Lords and NDAs have been banned in the process - we discuss what happens next. Plus Gordon Brown’s review of devolution has implications for HE, and we wonder whether Chat-GPT will kill the essay as an assessment tactic. With Nicola Dandridge, Professor of Practice in Higher Education Policy at University of Bristol, Jon...

This week on the podcast we consider the fall out from last week’s immigration figures. Is a crackdown on international students really on its way from government? Plus we chat China amid growing concerns about the superpoower’s relationship with HE, this year’s PTES suggests rapid expansion might need more careful management, and HESA is helping us understand brain drain. With Lucy Van Essen-Fish...

This week on the podcast the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has new stats on students and cost of living. Will more support for students ever come? Plus Rishi Sunak declares the UK an innovation nation, strikes have begun across the sector, and Hidden History looks back at the end of the binary divide between universities and polytechnics in 1992. With Richard Brabner, Director at the UPP Fo...